The story first appeared in the Bangkok Post, Jun 2014
Fishermen and mountaineers it is said, have a natural flair for tall tales. But the yarn is never so grand as that of the Everest climber.
There are hair-raising tales of the arduous climb, the avalanches, the frostbites, the cliff hanger precipices and how the brave climber scraped though it all by the skin of his teeth. The truth, as is often the case, is more humbling.
Braving the mountain’s wrath are the Sherpas and not the mountaineers- many of whom are just backpackers masquerading as mountaineers. Their over enthusiasm, bereft of experience or skill, only endangers the lives of Sherpas. Mostly, the Sherpas make up for the ineptness and pull it off, but sometimes, there is a disaster. (16 Sherpas lost their lives on April 18, 2014, in Everest’s worst ever tragedy)
A fact conveniently omitted by all climbers in their fire-side tales, is that they are aided every step of the way- some of them virtually carried to the summit –by the Nepalese Sherpas.
The glamour of summiting Nepal’s big mountains is so heady that rope fixing, tent pitching – the raison d’etre of mountaineering, taught in every elementary mountaineering school- is dispensed with. They are instead purchased on the climb.
And so it was during the Indian Army’s Kanchenjunga expedition 2004 of which I was part. Almost every year the Indian Army dispatches an expedition to one of the big Himalayan peaks. The idea is to train the soldiers for high-altitude warfare but it’s usually a race for glory and medals.
The Indian army paid more than 55 lakh rupees to the Sherpas who fixed ropes to the very summit of this dangerous and therefore rarely summited mountain. Sherpa Pempa Ringi who had summited Everest seven times lead the expedition and the soldiers merely followed in his wake.
Year after year, all manner of people, from the physically handicapped to the age defying – the very old to the very young- climb Everest and other big Himalayan peaks setting up new benchmarks and world records. The fact is, the easier the Sherpas make the climb for the amateurs, the more they risk their lives.
In Everest, a special brand of Sherpas called ‘ice-doctors’ are sent forth between camp one and two to probe the dangerous Khumbu Ice-falls region for potential avalanches. Its only after they have deemed them safe do the climbers begin their climb. It was in this region that that the 16 Sherpas lost their lives on April 18.
The trouble is that the Sherpas never complain. More work means more money. The Sherpas actually hate climbers who insist on fixing rope or pitching tents on their own. They do not hanker for fame. Their only complain is money.
“I think the money we get is very less compared to the hard work we put in”, said Tsering Domain, one of the Sherpas on the Kanchenjunga expedition
The Sherpas begin their careers as high altitude porters trudging up steep slopes with loads upwards of 40 kilos. Once they qualify as high altitude Sherpas, they learn how to fix ropes and pitch camps and in a few years are ready to lead expeditions.
Tibetan in origin, most of the Sherpas hail from the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal. They are all Buddhists and follow the Tibetan way of life. Few of them like Pempa Ringi live in the monasteries as monks before becoming climbers. Their first task after setting up Base Camp is to build a prayer alter and festoon the camp with Tibetan prayer flags.
Every expedition to the peak begins only after a religious ceremony is performed at the alter, which besides a lot of chanting, involves much singing, dancing and drinking. Whisky finds pride of place at the alter and is the prasad (consecrated offering) given to all climbers.
The Sherpas originally made a living tilling the land as farmers and followed a nomadic life, herding sheep. It was the European climbers who first saw their potential as climbers and decided to harness them.
Today there are Sherpas who have not only climbed Everest scores of time, but have scaled more than 10 different mountain peaks. Babu Chiri Sherpa climbed Everest 10 times without oxygen, and in 1999, he created a sensation by remaining on the summit for 21 hours. Sherpas Pempa Dorji set a world recorded in 2004 for climbing the Everest in just eight hours. And on May 22, 2008, Appa Sherpa scaled Everest for the 18th time breaking his own record for the most successful ascents.
However, the glory and fame has always eluded the Sherpas. And they have no need for them either. They know these are fopperies of the West. They climb to make a living.
were you a part of the army on that expedition? or a photographer?
Lisa I was not in the army. They wanted to do a book on it. So had taken me along to write and take photos.
Very nicely written article and great images. Eye opener too